"You alright, mami?" I asked as I moved to the side of the bed.
"I'd mock you for that self-satisfied smirk, but you earned it," she informed me, not even lifting her cheek up off the mattress.
"Come on," I said, reaching down to lift her up, placing her at the top of the bed. "Scoot over," I demanded.
"So I can be stuck with no escape?" she asked, small-eyeing me, but a little smirk was pulling at her lips.
"You're gonna be on me anyway," I reminded her. "In case of emergency, just roll the rest of the way over me," I added, snaking an arm around her shoulders, dragging her down onto my chest.
"Hey Roderick," she said a long moment later. I had been sifting through her hair, her body so lax I thought she had drifted off already.
"Yeah?"
"Merry Christmas."
My smile was huge even though she couldn't see it. Because it was that. The merriest of Christmases.
"Merry Christmas, Livvy."-"So you're why it was taking so long for him to get his ass back to Navesink Bank, huh?" Reign asked the next morning, dark brow lifted, everything about him in scary-prez mode even though he was usually a bit softer with women.
"And by that, he means it's nice to meet you, Livianna," Summer said from his side, knocking his thigh with her hip like she was silently chastising him for his lack of manners.
"It's nice to meet you too..."
"Summer," I supplied for her.
"So... you really just ran up while he was getting mauled and robbed him?" Summer asked, eyes dancing.
"Not one of my finer moments," Liv said, shaking her head. "I did nurse that arm back to health eventually," she added, clearly feeling a bit like she was on trial with all my people around... and none of her own.
"It's cool. I gave Edison a black eye last week. No hard feelings, right?" Lenny asked, patting him on the stomach as she moved past.
The door behind Reign opened, bringing in Adler and Lou, making Liv's brow raise.
"You!" she said, faking anger. "You snitched on me."
Lou actually looked a bit guilty at that, shaking her head. "I mean... you did bring it on yourself in a way," Lou told her, shrugging.
"So this is the gun runner ya refused to talk to me about," Adler said, nodding at Liv. "I even used naked persuasion and everything."
"That is Adler," I supplied, noting that - aside from Reign and Summer, only the couples without kids were showing up at the compound the day after Christmas. And, according to Reign when I'd pulled him aside before Liv came out of the shower, the boys were too busy on their video games to even notice they were gone.
"Adler," Liv mused. "Underground fighting. Bought a dog for your girl."
"He's been talking 'bout me, huh?"
"I got some quick bullet points on all of you, I think. Summer who cannot be trusted around an AK-47."
"Hey!" Summer objected, shooting daggers at me.
"Andddd... Lenny works at a dive bar for shits and giggles. Edison practically growls everything he says and occasionally slips into Romanian when he's frustrated."
"And me?" Reign asked, head ducked to the side a bit.
"You have a very good sense of humor," she supplied. "Though this I-am-going-to-grumble-and-glower-at-you-so-you-know-I-mean-business thing kind of contradicts that."
"Oh, don't get me wrong, babe, I think it's fuckin' hilarious that you pulled a fast one on Roderick. That being said, I'm pretty serious about people fuckin' with my club. We've had enough of that lately."
"I brought it back," she reminded him. "And it was never personal. I needed the gun like you did. And, trust me, I've learned my lesson."
"Heard about that," Reign said, nodding, eyes going a little less guarded. "Glad you made it out of there."
"We're going to have to introduce this Astrid girl to Lo and Jstorm," Lou decided. "I mean if you guys decide to set up shop here. I think Lo could make use of someone with her skills."
"Thinking about setting up shop here?" Reign asked, voice a little rough again.
To that, Summer rolled her eyes, patting her hand on his stomach. "I think everyone is getting a bit ahead of themselves. Roderick and Liv are just... testing things out. So we can all stop questioning them. And grumbling at them," she said with a pointed look up at her husband. "Liv, did you get any coffee yet?" she asked, very clearly trying to get her out of the hot seat, something I could kiss her for.
"No, actually."
And with that, the women all walked away, leaving me in the hot seat. which was fine. I had been in it for weeks now. I was getting used to the heat.
"She has no plans to fuck with club business," I insisted when we were alone. "She has her own list of contacts and clients. And trust me when I say she more than paid for her mistake in taking from us. I thought the bastard kicked her skull in," I added, feeling the rage bubble up again, wishing I could resurrect the fuck just to gun him down again.